Returning for a moment to the difference between being caned and being given detention as prompting a remark that teachers have too much power, it seems to me that there is a significant difference between these two types of punishment.

A detention is, in a real sense, an anonymous punishment.

Certainly, it will have been imposed by an individual teacher, but that teacher probably will not be present during the detention; it will be whoever has drawn the short straw.

The resentment, if any, is likely to be diffuse.

A caning, on the other hand, is personal. If you’re going to resent the punishment, then the resentment will be directed at one specific individual. The one who, right now, is inflicting pain.

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